


Dark Star

by WarriorOfTheLight



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Gen, dark!Lucy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 07:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6602407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarriorOfTheLight/pseuds/WarriorOfTheLight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In order to save her spirits, Lucy begins to lose herself. The question is, can she be saved herself before she turns to darkness?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Brightest Stars Fall the Furthest

Lucy sighed as she slumped face-first onto her bed. She couldn’t believe it. Fairy Tail were back in Magnolia. They had their Guild Hall back and the jobs would now be coming in thick and fast. Fighting dragons and seeing herself die had really made her question whether or not she would make it through the ordeal in Crocus and she knew how lucky they had all been.

Lucy remembered how all of Magnolia had come out to cheer their return. It had been so nice, standing victoriously amongst her friends. They had won, they had done it for those who had waited, for those who forgot what Fairy Tail really _meant_ , they had done it for each other.

Lucy sighed again, her gaze turning to stare out of the window, her eyes trailing lazily over the few wispy clouds that lethargically floated through the sky. Everything had happened so quickly in such a short space of time. She was glad that she could just sit and think for a moment. She knew Natsu and Happy were celebrating with the rest of the guild in the Guild Hall. She was going to join them but first she wanted a moment to breathe. A quick letter to her mum and a bath would be nice before she went back to celebrate. She knew she didn’t have too much time before Natsu came and got her.

Pushing herself up, she came face to face with Loke.

A surprised shriek tore from Lucy’s throat as she lashed out, kicking the Celestial spirit across the room.

“What are you doing here?” she screeched, hand over her chest to make sure her pounding heart wouldn’t burst forth.

Surprisingly Loke shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry for surprising you Lucy.” He sighed and adjusted his glasses. “I need you to come with me immediately. There’s something strange going on in the Celestial world.”

Lucy paused. “This isn’t another of your surprise parties is it?” she didn’t want to be gone for another three months again.

Loke smiled sadly. “No. This time there is something wrong and the Celestial King has requested your presence immediately.”

“Right I’ll just let Natsu know-“ she was cut off by a garment thrown at her.

“I’m sorry Lucy but there’s no time. Please.”

Lucy frowned. Whatever was happening seemed to have really rattled Loke. Grabbing the outfit, the blonde had already made her mind up. It was her duty as a celestial wizard to help her spirits and Loke seemed to really need her. Not to mention the Celestial King himself had asked for her. It was apparent that she really had no time to waste.

Quickly changing into the celestial clothes in her bathroom, Lucy re-entered and Loke instantly grabbed her hand.

“Ready?” he asked hurriedly.

Grabbing her fleuve d’étoiles and keys she nodded before Loke warped them both in a burst of brilliant light from her flat to the celestial world. It was a trip that often sent her crashing to the ground at either end of the journey, but in Loke’s arms she landed softly and on her feet. She really had to learn how to do that, she thought distractedly.

The first thing she felt was a wave of heaviness settle over her. There was definitely something different about the Celestial World – a darkness even.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” Loke said softly beside her. Lucy nodded, not trusting herself to speak. This world was so different than the one that she had been in only so recently. The sky that usually sparkled with boundless celestial magic was dulled to a murky darkness that pressed down upon all.

“What happened here?” she breathed out, scared to speak too loudly in this odd atmosphere.

“Ah, my old friend, Lucy Heartfilia.” The blonde turned to see the hulking figure of the Celestial King behind her. “I see that Leo brought you swiftly. As you can see we need your help.”

“Uh, Your Majesty.” Lucy inclined her head slightly, still looking around her distractedly. “What happened?”

The king hesitated and stroked his facial hair as he considered Lucy for a long while. “You were once willing to do anything to save your spirits…” he said cautiously. “Do you still feel the same way?”

“Of course.” Lucy didn’t even have to think about it. There was no way she would let anything hurt her spirits. They were her friends. Her family. Some of them she had known all her life. If she could do anything to help them then she would, without a doubt.

The king smiled sadly at her. “Thank you, my friend. You see, opening the Eclipse Gate had such a tremendous effect on your world that it has bled into our one.”

“What? Even though we closed and destroyed the gate?” Lucy cried.

The Celestial king nodded solemnly. “Unfortunately yes. The dark magic was so potent that it has leaked through worlds. As you can see, it has begun to affect this world. It’s only a matter of time before it begins to effect the spirits here. We need your help, Lucy Heartfilia.”

“Of course. But what do I need to do?” In Natsu’s words, Lucy felt fired up. She had helped take the Eclipse Gate down and she was going to take the darkness from this world too. She might not have her Fairy Tail team with her, but she had all of her Celestial Spirits with her here. _She could do this_.

“There is a place in this world where the darkness is accumulating. We spirits have been avoiding it for fear of it taking hold of us too. Think of the travesty that would arise should any zodiac spirit fall to darkness. Should _I_ fall to darkness.”

“Of course. I’ll head there straight away.” Lucy nodded to herself. “You can count on me.”

The Celestial King bowed his head in gratitude. “Thank you, my friend. Be safe.”

“You won’t be going alone.” Loke said beside her. Lucy turned to find all ten of her zodiac spirits waiting. “You won’t be fighting _for_ us, you’ll be fighting _with_ us.”

A hard lump formed in Lucy’s throat. She had no idea what to say to her friends. They were there for her when she needed them, and she would definitely need them now. She knew in her heart that these spirits were her family and she would let nothing happen to them.

“Thanks guys. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” Turning on her heel, Lucy began to head towards where the darkness was thickest.

* * *

 

Lucy stared in horror at the swirling black mass that was crawling over the planet before them. She should have been more prepared to see darkness personified but it still gave her goosebumps just looking at it. it was as black as the darkness night sky and stickily creeped across the planet’s surface.

A hand touched her lower back gently. Loke.

“We’re right here beside you.” He smiled.

Lucy looked to all of her zodiac spirits. They stood proudly behind her, waiting for her to make the call. _She could do this_.

The blonde thought back to all the foes she had faced. Many of them had had weak points that they had exploited as a team: Nirvana had the lacrima in its legs, Hades had his demon heart, future Rogue had had the Eclipse Gate itself. There had to be a weak point here. But where?

As Lucy looked on, she wondered where darkness’ weakness would be. Naturally light would affect the dark…

“Loke, could you send a blast of your magic at the darkness? As centrally as possible.”

Loke chuckled. “With pleasure.” Taking up a casting stance, he glowed with a brilliance that had Lucy shielding her eyes. “Lion Brilliance!” he cried, sending a lion shaped bolt of pure golden light towards the darkness.

There was a moment of bated breaths before the impact and Lucy was relieved to see that the darkness had receded somewhat.

But her relief was only momentary. Great twisting arms of darkness whipped from the mass and shot towards them. Scorpio and Aquarius leapt forward, Scorpio whipping up a sandstorm whilst Aquarius raised her urn and released a powerful jet of water. Sand and water intertwined and shot straight back at the oncoming darkness.

But to little avail.

The attack might have slowed down the arms slightly but the dark magic sliced right across Lucy and her celestial spirits, sending them flying in different directions. Lucy landed hard on her side and skidded until her back hit a pillar, knocking the breath from her. Looking down, dazedly, she made out a slash in her outfit across her shoulder, slowly blooming with red. She was only vaguely aware of the sharp, stinging pain that began to boil in her shoulder. The darkness was _physical_? She hadn’t been expecting that. Looking to her spirits, they were all sporting similar injuries but were rising to their feet again.

_If that thing has a physical form_ , Lucy thought, _then at least we can hit it_.

As the blonde pushed herself up, she saw the darkness descending again with its long grotesque arms.

“Virgo!” Lucy shouted, leaping forward and drawing her fleuve d’étoiles. She and Virgo could counter this attack and then Taurus and Sagittarius could hopefully slice straight through the arms. Virgo kept in time with Lucy and both wizard and spirit whipped the attack away whilst Taurus advanced and, with a powerful downward strike, severed half the arms. Sagittarius released an arrow that multiplied and that burned with light as each arrow found its mark, shredding the arms to ribbons.

Lucy bent over slightly, catching her breath as she waited to see what would happen next. She tentatively felt at her shoulder, wincing at the burning, deep cut.

Virgo was by her side in a heartbeat.

“Princess, you’re hurt.” She attempted to pull Lucy back behind the other spirits so she could look at the wound, but Lucy didn’t budge.

“I’ll be alright. It’s just a scratch.”

Virgo looked like she wanted to argue but the black mass moved again, this time with more purpose. Not asking for permission this time, Virgo all but threw Lucy behind the spirits, just before the mass exploded from the planet and smashed into each and every spirit. Lucy watched in fear as her friends went flying from the impact, landing heavily, far from where they had originally been standing.

“No.” Lucy pushed herself to her feet and raced towards them, only to be thrown back by another explosion. The blonde landed heavily on her back, her head smacking against the ground, the breath knocked out of her and stars dancing in her eyes. She fought for consciousness. Her spirits needing her gave her the strength to stand again.

In one quick motion, Lucy had her fleuve d’étoiles wrapped around the mass that had been stalking over to her spirits, and she tugged hard, trying to pull it away from them. _She could do this. She had to._

The mass didn’t move as she tugged, rather it was dragging _her_ towards _it_. Digging her heels into the ground, Lucy tugged again and the mass gave way, turning from a physical, solid mass to shadow right before her, sending her crashing to the ground.

It continued its advance on her spirits.

Terror exploded through her as the shadow mass curled in on itself, readying itself to attack the spirits again. If a physical attack did physical damage then she was terrified of what a non-physical attack would do.

“NO!” Lucy shrieked, pushing herself to her feet and racing towards the mass. She was vaguely aware of her spirits shouting to her but she wasn’t about to let her family get hurt. Not anymore than they already had. She had made a promise.

The darkness exploded just as Lucy skidded to a stop before it, throwing her arms out, trying to shield her spirits from the attack as much as she could.

The last thing she remembered was hearing Loke and Aquarius crying out her name before she was enveloped in light.

And then, darkness.


	2. The Fallen Star Awakens

_Pain_.

That was the first thing that her tired mind registered.

Pain burnt through her body, igniting her veins and setting her blood boiling. Her bones ached as though they had frozen to brittle shards and her head pounded mercilessly. It was only through sheer force of will that she opened her eyes.

Blinking her vision into focus, she saw her spirits kneeling around her, staring at her with worry. As she came back to consciousness, relief flashed simultaneously in their faces.

“Lucy. Thank goodness. I thought we’d lost you.” Loke breathed out in a great shuddering breath. He bowed his head and gripped Lucy’s hand.

The blonde looked around at her spirits, mildly confused as to what had happened. She remembered that they were hurt, and she then remembered taking the hit from the dark mass. The mass! She sat up, crying out as pain tore through her again. Her shoulder was excruciating and her torso felt like she had been repeatedly stamped on by a dragon. Virgo and Aquarius helped her sit up more slowly.

She groaned, glad for the support. She didn’t think she could move independently right now. “What happened?”

Aquarius huffed. “You took the attack from that thing head on. It was stupid and brash and-“ her voice wavered slightly, “thank you.”

Lucy looked at the Water-Bearer, smiling slightly, touched by how much Aquarius cared, despite how often she tried to prove that she didn’t.

“But then you collapsed and weren’t moooving at all.” Taurus continued.

“There was a moment when we thought you were dead, princess.” Virgo finished.

Lucy struggled with a laugh. “Yeah, I’m not going anywhere you guys.” Wobbly smiles broke out amongst her spirits. “But I could really use some help getting up.”

“Princess, you shouldn’t be moving. You’re hurt.”

“I’ll be alright. How long was I out for?”

Loke shifted uncomfortably. “A couple of hours. None of us wanted to leave your side in case anything bad happened…” he finished lamely, looking anywhere but at Lucy.

“Hey that’s alright. I’m alright. There wouldn’t happen to be any healing magic here would there?” she looked around hopefully. “I would go for anything right now to be completely honest.”

Virgo stood. “I can bandage your shoulder.”

“We don’t have the kind of healing magic that is available in your world. It would be really useful if Wendy was here.” Loke said, helping distract Lucy as Virgo set to work. “We’ll get you patched up and then get you back to your world.”

Lucy hissed in pain as Virgo tightened the wrapping around her shoulder. “How long do you think I’ve been gone?” Truthfully, Lucy didn’t want to know the answer but she realised that a couple of hours in this world could be a month in hers. She needed to know how long she had been gone, and how worried the others would be.

“I would say a couple of months, princess.” Virgo helped Lucy to her feet and the blonde swayed, but not from the pain. _A couple of months_? The others must be so worried.

“I should really be getting back then.” She sighed, looking at all of her spirits in turn. “Thank you for all your help.”

“We should be thanking you, my lady.” Capricorn said. “After all, you nearly died for us.”

Lucy smiled as tiredness began to claw its way into her body. “Still. Thank you.” She looked to Loke and Virgo, “could you get me to the guild hall please. I don’t think I could get there from my place.”

A smile in farewell and Lucy was awash with the brilliant light of warping again. She shut her eyes against the brilliance. It was too bright for her sensitive eyes right now.

As their feet touched the ground again, Lucy slumped slightly in Virgo and Loke’s arms. Pushing herself up, she looked up to see the guild hall before them. She was thrilled to be back.

A cool wind caused goosebumps to travel up her arms but she welcomed the sensation. She was still alive, even after she was willing to give her life for her spirits’ freedom. Something tickled the back of her mind, like a memory long forgotten, but her pain clouded her thoughts and she ignored it.

“You ready?” Loke asked as he wrapped Lucy’s good arm around his shoulders. A smaller arm snaked around her waist and Virgo supported Lucy’s other side.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

 

The guild hall was alive with movement. At first Lucy wasn’t entirely sure it was the right place. It looked like the entire guild was there, but surely there should be some people out on jobs?

A large map of Fiore covered a wall, covered in dots of all colours. Sections of the map were divided into squares, some of which were shaded out. Before the map, Erza and Levy stood, discussing an area west of Hargeon whilst Gadjeel, Pantherlilly and Elfman stood quietly behind them, waiting for instruction.

Wendy, Cana, Carla, Gray and Juvia were hunched over another map that was spread across a table, placing teams of wizards over different squares of land.

Master Makarov was deep in discussion with Laxus, Gildarts and Mirajane by the bar.

Natsu was sitting quietly off to the side.

For all the commotion, there wasn’t much noise.

Lucy took a shaky step inside, aided heavily by Virgo and Loke.

Something big was going on, and Lucy wanted to help. But first, she needed help.

Black eyes flashed up as the scent of blood caught the dragonslayer’s attention.

“Lucy?” Natsu whispered. The three figures in the doorway were silhouetted but he recognised the scent of Lucy. He had been after it for months. “Lucy!” he shouted, springing over the table and racing to where the blonde stood, supported by Loke and Virgo. His shouting had caught everyone else’s attention and everyone turned to the door.

Lucy managed a half smile at her friends.

Erza, Gray and Wendy rushed forward with Natsu, stopping next to him when they saw the state of the blonde.

Her clothes were torn and stained with blood. Bandages extended from her shoulder where most of the blood seemed to have come from. Bruises covered much of her skin and her left cheekbone and the right side of her jaw were painted with darkening bruises. Cuts, both big and small, littered her skin. But what worried them most were her eyes. She looked so tired. So hurt.

“Lucy…?” Erza covered her mouth with her hands, trying to hide her shock at seeing one of her closest friends like this.

“Who did this to you?” Natsu asked quietly. He wasn’t going to let whoever did this get away with it. It was one thing making Lucy cry, but hurting her like this was too far.

Surprisingly, Lucy smiled. “It’s gone.”

“What happened?” Gray asked. He tried not to let it show how much seeing Lucy in this state affected him.

Lucy slumped as she opened her mouth, Loke and Virgo taking her weight. She couldn’t even stand _with_ aid. She knew she was hurt but she hadn’t thought it was that bad.

“She needs help. Immediately.” Loke pressed urgently to the others.

Wendy stepped forward, gently leading Lucy to a bench where she could take the weight off her feet. Loke and Virgo didn’t let go of her. Bringing her healing magic forth, Wendy surveyed the damage.

“This is bad.” She muttered. “You’re really hurt, Lucy. It’ll take a while to heal you on the inside before I can even start on your outside injuries.”

“Just do what you can, Wendy.” Lucy smiled at the smaller girl encouragingly.

Wendy frowned, concentrating on her magic restoring Lucy’s health. The smaller girl had not seen such bad internal injuries since the fight on Tenrou Island and she worried how much longer Lucy could keep up her facade of health.

The members of Fairy Tail watched on with bated breaths as Wendy used her magic to heal Lucy. The blonde was clearly trying to avoid people worrying about her with her upbeat persona, but Natsu, Gray and Erza knew differently. They could see it in her eyes – the pain, the worry.

Lucy closed her eyes as Wendy’s magic began to heal her injuries, letting Virgo take more of her weight. She was only mildly aware of Loke speaking with the rest of the guild.

“What happened?” Makarov asked.

Looking down at Lucy briefly, Loke decided to tell Fairy Tail of what Lucy had done for the Celestial world and the Celestial spirits.

“Lucy saved us all.” He let his words sink in before continued. “When the Eclipse Gate was opened, the darkness of Zeref’s magic bled through your world and into ours. As a result, the Celestial King requested Lucy’s presence immediately, giving her no time to consult with the guild. What was an evening for us was months for you.”

Silence followed his words. _Could it be true?_ Makarov wondered. _Could the black magic of the Eclipse have been so strong that it affected more than one world?_ Surely such a potent magic like that would not have been able to have been defeated so easily. He voiced his opinions.

“No, it was not an easy fight.” Loke hesitated and looked to Virgo. She looked to Lucy who was still on the brink of consciousness before nodding. “I don’t think it was a fight that any of us expected to win. But Lucy…” he paused, searching for the right words, adjusting his glasses as he did so. “Lucy fought with us. The darkness within the Celestial World was tailored to affect Celestial spirits. She had the ability to fight it. And she did. She was willing to do what was necessary to ensure our freedom from the darkness.”

Natsu looked to Lucy. She possessed such a deep care for her spirits that she would do anything for them, that much he knew. Some of them she inherited from her mother – one of the only things that she had left of the woman. So it only made sense that Lucy had rushed in head-first to save them. He only wished that he had been there by her side. Maybe then she wouldn’t have been so hurt? And yet, he knew that Lucy was more than capable of looking after herself. She was so much stronger than most people gave her credit for, and had the brains to match it.

Erza’s heart swelled at Loke’s words. Lucy possessed so much love that she was willing to give her life for her spirits. As a non-Celestial wizard, it had taken Erza quite a while to understand the connection between wizard and spirit, but now she had some grasp on the concept, she couldn’t help but feel proud at Lucy’s bravery. A true warrior. She was still worried about the blonde’s condition – seeing Lucy in such a state was still a shock to her.

Gray grit his teeth. Lucy was part of the team. One of them. And they hadn’t been there for her. She could clearly look after herself in a fight, but maybe she wouldn’t have gotten so badly hurt if the rest of them had been there. He hated the feeling of guilt and helplessness that bubbled within him. It was too reminiscent of Ur and Ultear and how they had been the ones to save his life.

Virgo spoke into the silence. “Lucy put herself between the darkness and us. We would not be here if it weren’t for her. She saved us all.”

Wendy’s magic dimmed and she brought her hands away from Lucy. “The worst of her injuries are healed, but I don’t have enough magic to heal her external injuries. I’m sorry.” Her voice wavered and she sat heavily, Carla rushing to her side.

“You’ve used too much magic, child.” The white cat scolded lightly. She couldn’t be mad at the small girl for using her magic to help others.

“Thank you Wendy.” The small girl looked up sharply, her eyes meeting Lucy’s tired brown ones.

“Lucy!” the guild cried simultaneously.

Lucy smiled at the faces of her friends. There was so much worry on them but she pushed herself to her feet, hand gripping Virgo’s arm for support and to steady herself. Loke smiled brightly before dropping to a knee before Lucy, hand placed over his heart.

“Lucy Heartfilia, you were willing to give your life for the Celestial World and I, Leo, Leader of the Zodiac, thank you, and should you ever need anything from the Celestial World, then consider it yours.”

A smirk curled at the corner of Lucy’s lips. _How convenient_. But then she smiled, and the smirk was forgotten.

“Oh get up, you silly spirit.” She laughed and hugged Loke when he stood again. Laughs echoed throughout the guild hall as Lucy seemed to have some of her old self back again.

“Lucy!” a blue blur crashed into Lucy’s chest, sobbing as it did.

“Aw Happy, I missed you too.” The blonde smiled, hugging the little cat to her. She turned back to her friends, smiling. “I’m sorry I worried you guys.”

“Hey don’t sweat it. As long as you’re alright.” Gray smiled.

Natsu laughed. “Yeah and as long as you kicked the bad guys ass.” He wrapped his arm around Lucy’s shoulders but the blonde could feel he was being more gentle than usual. Clearly he didn’t want to hurt her further.

“Yes. I’m glad you’re back to us, safe and sound.” Erza smiled as she lightly gripped Lucy’s arm. She didn’t dare try to hug the blonde whilst she was wearing her armour.

“Hey that reminds me, what’s going on around here? It’s like some sort of military operation?” Lucy asked.

There was a moment of silence before Makarov spoke up. “This was for you, child. We had no idea where you had gone. When you hadn’t returned to the guild hall, Natsu and Happy went to find you, only to find your home empty.”

“Yeah, we looked for you for a while but thought you might have gone somewhere else. But when you still hadn’t shown up the next day, we started asking around.” Lucy’s stomach flipped uncomfortably as Natsu continued the story. “Nobody had seen you so we thought you had been kidnapped.”

“Although, come to think of it, it makes perfect sense that you were in the Celestial World.” Levy added, somewhat shyly.

“Well I’m back now guys.” Lucy smiled.

“Yeah, just let us know if you’re going off on a big adventure next time.” Natsu laughed. “I wanna go with you. Sounds like fun.”

“You idiot! It clearly wasn’t-“ Gray grabbed Natsu from the blonde.

Mirajane stepped up, ignoring the fighting boys. “Are you tired? Do you want to sit down?”

“I am actually pretty tired. I might go home for a bit?”

“Of course, child.” Makarov smiled. He looked to where Natsu and Gray were trading blows with disdain. “I don’t doubt that you’ll have company though.”

Lucy laughed. “I’m sure. Again, I’m sorry I worried you guys.”

“Hey enough apologising.” Cana laughed. “Just go home and get some rest. Come back when you feel ready.”

Lucy smiled a thanks and let Loke and Virgo walk with her to the doors. Waving goodbye to her friends, she let the smile slip from her face.

“So you _do_ feel it.” Loke observed. Lucy frowned at him. “I am your Celestial spirit, and the leader of the Zodiac spirits. What you feel, we will feel too.”

“I see. So you’ll have no objections to what I plan?” Lucy sent him a sidelong glance.

 Loke grinned. “None at all.”

“After all, Princess, all the Zodiac keys should be kept together.” Virgo said.

_Good_ , Lucy thought. She didn’t want to deal with her spirits fighting her on this one, but apparently she wouldn’t have to.

_This was going to be easy_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, another chapter. Let me know what you thought and I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks


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